Ford, Texas dealership face lawsuit over recalled Takata airbag

Ford Motor Co. and Yaklin Ford in Richwood, Texas, are being sued in Texas for not replacing a recalled airbag that led to a woman sustaining life-altering injuries.

The suit, filed by plaintiff Sara Morgan in Brazoria County near Houston, claims Morgan was involved in a collision in June 2020 in Brazoria County while riding as a passenger in a 2007 Ford Mustang. Following the collision, the Mustang's Takata airbag "expelled metal shrapnel" into Morgan's face and caused severe injuries, including the loss of her left eye.

Ford recalled more than 58,000 vehicles, including the 2007 Mustang, in June 2014 following reports that the Takata airbag inside the vehicle could expel shrapnel into the cabin. The Takata recall has spread throughout the global auto industry for more than a decade and is largest automotive recall in history, with more than 67 million affected airbags in the U.S. across various automakers. Nineteen 19 deaths and more than 400 injuries have been linked to the defect.

Japan's Takata Corp. filed for bankruptcy in June 2017 and was purchased the following year for $1.6 billion by supplier Joyson Safety Systems, which was then known as Key Safety Systems.

The Mustang involved in Morgan's accident was taken into Yaklin Ford in October 2018 to have two recalls performed on the airbag inflators. However, the lawsuit alleges that Yaklin Ford "only replaced the driver's-side airbag inflator" and knowingly left the passenger-side inflator intact.

The lawsuit contends Yaklin Ford was responsible for not replacing the airbag inflator, but Ford also was responsible for Morgan's injuries because "a recall is not an adequate substitute for a safe vehicle" and Ford has "an absolute obligation to provide consumers with a vehicle that was reasonably safe in crashes."

"Ford is responsible for manufacturing vehicles that are supposed to be safe. That includes having safe components," Morgan's attorney Rob Ammos said in an interview. "They put millions of these vehicles into the stream of commerce and they have failed to make sure that they have all been remedied and recalled and fixed."

Ford spokesperson Catherine Hargett wrote in an email to Automotive News that the company went to significant lengths to ensure that the defective airbag inflator involved in Morgan's vehicle was repaired.

"In this instance, Ford went to substantial lengths to have the inflator repaired, sending over 30 recall notices (before and after the failed dealer repair) to the registered owner and even sending a mobile repair unit to the owner's home and knocking on her door," Hargett wrote.

The lawsuit also names the driver of the vehicle that struck the Mustang in which Morgan was riding as a defendant.

Morgan is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages for past and present injuries, medical treatment and gross negligence of Ford and Yaklin Ford.

In a statement to Automotive News, attorneys representing Yaklin Ford wrote that Yaklin Ford was confident that the appropriate parties would be held accountable in court. The attorneys also said Yaklin Ford had a fund set aside for customers such as Morgan who were injured due to the Takata airbag.

"As is widely known, the Takata airbags installed in tens of millions of cars by Ford and other manufacturers were the subject of a federal recall," the statement reads. "A special restitution fund has been established for that purpose, which we hope Ms. Morgan will benefit from."